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To be fair, they did prevent the grunts on Route 10 from attaching the Pokémon that Team Flare had acquired to the stones, which would have killed those Pokémon.

That falls a bit into "show, don't tell" though, we don't know they did that until they say something about it and even then it's still not as good as seeing them do it. Visibly, we don't see much of them in the plot aside from Serena/Calem and Shauna to a much lesser extent. So they come off as not really that relevant, you don't get a feel that they're doing something for you or the story at hand so their contributions that they do have are either overlooked or fall flat.

I think that my favourite character of these games is Lysandre.
I don't know, he just gave the vibes of a tragic hero: "Moved by noble ideals, but ends up commiting awful actions"
Perhaps I'm reading too much into his character, but it's also true that he was a lot different from the Team's bosses of the past.
In any case I really liked all the characters in this gen and the rivals were a bit more interesting, even though in the end, excluding some times, the one who you really fought against was your main rival...

I actually like the Team Flare storyline but I think it needs to be expanded a bit more. I find it a bit short. Also Lysandre. I love this guy.

As for the friends, I'm a bit disappointed. While I do like the fact that there's a bit of a realization and self reflection happening here and there, it still felt very lacking in the sense of character development.

As for Gym Leaders, E4, and Diantha, they should have more presence. I like what they did with Korrina, and the few bits with Grant, Clemont and Wulfric but there could have been more involvement with the storyline.

Sycamore... I'm actually fine with him showing up from time to time. But I guess I'm at fault for disappointing myself for expecting a battle every time he shows up. As for his pair of assistants, I actually liked those two more than Shauna, Trevor, Tierno and Calem/Serena.

Alexa. I actually thought she would be all over the place, being a journalist and all, but no...

AZ. I feel sorry for this guy. But I like him.

Looker sidequest and all of the characters involved. This was actually better than the friendship storyline.

.: Waiting for the stars to align. | Edit by me, do not steal. :.
.: IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE GAMES, PLEASE CHECK THE [MAIN SITE] FIRST :.

I think people like AZ are pretty big sore thumbs. They're very important but show up very little. Has "waiting for the third version" written all over it. But AZ is definitely one of the best built characters in the series.

To right the countless wrongs of our day, we shine this light of true redemption, that this place may become as paradise. What a wonderful world such would be...

[*]Looker sidequest and all of the characters involved. This was actually better than the friendship storyline.[/list]

This. They need more side quests and storylines like these in the games - simple but yet deep ones that don't merely revolve around the "10 year old kid busts evil team and saves the day" thing. I suppose the main story will always end up as such, but there's definitely a lot more room for side quests like the Looker one, especially in the post-game.

M and N are, yes, but I personally don't think that AZ and N will be related.

A bit of trivia for the general public: There is a book in Lysandre Labs which does confirm that AZ's name means "the beginning and the end."

There are also other books in there that mention how AZ's brother (that is, Lysandre's ancestor) once led a "legion of greedy souls" with the intention of seizing Kalos for himself, but upon seeing the destruction that had been caused by the ultimate weapon, buried the weapon underground and told its location to his progeny at the time of his death, saying that humans must create a world where such a weapon isn't needed.

Neat stuff.

Last edited by Endolise; 28th October 2013 at 2:33 AM.

Originally Posted by Lord Zoroark

Listen, you gotta remember these things; always avoid claims of Fennekin being (or becoming) part Fighting-type, don't tick off mods, and NEVER (and I mean NEVER!) suggest that Arceus is the God of Pokemon when Endolise is online. If you somehow make this mistake, run for the hills before he attempts to murder you via tongue lashing.

Yes, the third version of the games will definitely give us more on AZ, and I'm thinking Emma/Essentia will get a bigger role as well (especially if it's a sequel, Emma has a distinct look going on for her and now in Looker Bureau and all). But I guess she could just stay as a major post-game character.

I know future games shouldn't be discussed, but I just noticed while I was talking to that guy in Anistar who knows about Xerneas(/Yveltal?) and the war and stuff, the girl in the same house says "A few years back, a different group of people came around here, asking the same questions" (about Xerneas I presume), after she says she heard about Team Flare finding Xerneas. This just screamed "prequel" to me for some reason, haha, or then I'm reading too much into it. I wonder what this other group was.

I know future games shouldn't be discussed, but I just noticed while I was talking to that guy in Anistar who knows about Xerneas(/Yveltal?) and the war and stuff, the girl in the same house says "A few years back, a different group of people came around here, asking the same questions" (about Xerneas I presume), after she says she heard about Team Flare finding Xerneas. This just screamed "prequel" to me for some reason, haha, or then I'm reading too much into it. I wonder what this other group was.

I had a similar thought; I figured that the "other group" would show up in the sequel now that Team Flare "went up in flares," to quote an ex-Flare grunt in Kiloude.

(And yes, that man talks about Yveltal in Y.)

Originally Posted by Lord Zoroark

Listen, you gotta remember these things; always avoid claims of Fennekin being (or becoming) part Fighting-type, don't tick off mods, and NEVER (and I mean NEVER!) suggest that Arceus is the God of Pokemon when Endolise is online. If you somehow make this mistake, run for the hills before he attempts to murder you via tongue lashing.

The friends/neighbor people that follow you around the entire game are essentially a nonfactor through and through. No significant development between the whole lot besides the fact that Calum wants to be a good trainer, that Shauna enjoys making memories with "friends," that Trevor wants to see/catch many pokemon, and that Tierno likes to... dance.

They were irrelevant and boring at the very most, and honestly they provided nothing significant to the game.

Team Flare, as a whole, was corny as corny gets. Each and every one of the stupid grunts only ever talked about being stylish and having "flare." (gag) Lysandre on the other hand, was a driven, well developed and powerful character. Absolutely enjoyed Lysandre's role in the plot, despite the fact that it was a little rushed. I found it awkward when all of a sudden I had received a holocaster message telling me that they were going to wipe everyone/everything out despite having no prior knowledge of such a plan. I'm sure, in contrast, some people would like that sort of thing where a huge plot-element smacks them in the face, but I would have preferred having to piece it together myself through subtle, clever hints as things progressed.

Oh well. Generally speaking, not as poor as it could have been. The game itself makes up for it all.

The friends/neighbor people that follow you around the entire game are essentially a nonfactor through and through. No significant development between the whole lot besides the fact that Calum wants to be a good trainer, that Shauna enjoys making memories with "friends," that Trevor wants to see/catch many pokemon, and that Tierno likes to... dance.

I would argue that Calem/Serena, at least, do receive decent character development, as they put a new spin on the rival dynamic. For once, they are second-best to you, and they are constantly training in order to prove themselves against you. Eventually, after some dedication, they manage to match your level by mastering mega evolution themselves.

The other three, I'll admit, were just kind of "there." Although I found Trevor to be slightly more characterized than Tierno and Shauna, perhaps because we do see some progression with him going from quiet and shy to more sociable.

Originally Posted by ThatKoolKidOverThere

Team Flare, as a whole, was corny as corny gets. Each and every one of the stupid grunts only ever talked about being stylish and having "flare." (gag)

That was actually done on purpose; Masuda said that they wanted to make the Team Flare grunts act silly in order to contrast their sharp appearance.

Last edited by Endolise; 25th October 2013 at 4:39 PM.

Originally Posted by Lord Zoroark

Listen, you gotta remember these things; always avoid claims of Fennekin being (or becoming) part Fighting-type, don't tick off mods, and NEVER (and I mean NEVER!) suggest that Arceus is the God of Pokemon when Endolise is online. If you somehow make this mistake, run for the hills before he attempts to murder you via tongue lashing.

The friends/neighbor people that follow you around the entire game are essentially a nonfactor through and through. No significant development between the whole lot besides the fact that Calum wants to be a good trainer, that Shauna enjoys making memories with "friends," that Trevor wants to see/catch many pokemon, and that Tierno likes to... dance.

They were irrelevant and boring at the very most, and honestly they provided nothing significant to the game.

Team Flare, as a whole, was corny as corny gets. Each and every one of the stupid grunts only ever talked about being stylish and having "flare." (gag) Lysandre on the other hand, was a driven, well developed and powerful character. Absolutely enjoyed Lysandre's role in the plot, despite the fact that it was a little rushed. I found it awkward when all of a sudden I had received a holocaster message telling me that they were going to wipe everyone/everything out despite having no prior knowledge of such a plan. I'm sure, in contrast, some people would like that sort of thing where a huge plot-element smacks them in the face, but I would have preferred having to piece it together myself through subtle, clever hints as things progressed.

Oh well. Generally speaking, not as poor as it could have been. The game itself makes up for it all.

I think that Pokemon did it realistically, but I can get why you wouldn't want that, it's Pokemon after all

Does it bother anyone else that Serena/Calem and Shauna do not use the Kanto starter they receive or for Serena/Calem the other fossil you didn't take? I feel like that was a huge waste of opportunity, just because they went through the effort to make dialogue showing they received them.

Does it bother anyone else that Serena/Calem and Shauna do not use the Kanto starter they receive or for Serena/Calem the other fossil you didn't take? I feel like that was a huge waste of opportunity, just because they went through the effort to make dialogue showing they received them.

It was pretty strange, especially when you think that Calem/Serena don't add a 4th Pokemon to their team until really late in the game, and Shauna never gets more than 3. It doesn't really surprise me though, seeing as apparently there's some kind of limit for how many Pokemon important characters can have before the post-game in the Kalos region...

It's even more confusing how Trevor and Tierno seemingly ditched their Kalos Starters.

I don't think they ever actually claimed to have them in the first place, although I could be wrong on that one. I was playing with my friends up until the second Gym so I didn't really catch all the details.

It's even more confusing how Trevor and Tierno seemingly ditched their Kalos Starters.

We're never actually told that they got Kalos starters, the first battle with Tierno shows he apparently started with Corphish and Trevor with either Pikachu or Flabébé (most likely Pikachu, given it's higher level).
I mean, Sycamore has 6 starters bare minimum, who's to say he doesn't have others.

It's even more confusing how Trevor and Tierno seemingly ditched their Kalos Starters.

Tierno and Trevor were never stated to have Kalos starters.

Originally Posted by Lord Zoroark

Listen, you gotta remember these things; always avoid claims of Fennekin being (or becoming) part Fighting-type, don't tick off mods, and NEVER (and I mean NEVER!) suggest that Arceus is the God of Pokemon when Endolise is online. If you somehow make this mistake, run for the hills before he attempts to murder you via tongue lashing.

A little interesting tidbit I found: in one of the Looker missions one girl is named after the vengeful Inuit goddess of the sea, the other is named after the Greek goddess of discord, and the guy is named after a water spirit that drowned people.

Does it bother anyone else that Serena/Calem and Shauna do not use the Kanto starter they receive or for Serena/Calem the other fossil you didn't take? I feel like that was a huge waste of opportunity, just because they went through the effort to make dialogue showing they received them.

No they don't. Calem/Serena's final team consists of Chesnaught/Delphox/Greninja, Clefable, Vaporeon/Jolteon/Flareon, Altaria, Meowstic, and Mega Absol.

Last edited by Endolise; 25th October 2013 at 6:31 PM.

Originally Posted by Lord Zoroark

Listen, you gotta remember these things; always avoid claims of Fennekin being (or becoming) part Fighting-type, don't tick off mods, and NEVER (and I mean NEVER!) suggest that Arceus is the God of Pokemon when Endolise is online. If you somehow make this mistake, run for the hills before he attempts to murder you via tongue lashing.

I agree with the people saying that Tierno, Trevor and Shauna were pretty pointless (and annoying) characters. I think Tierno is probably the biggest offender of this. Whereas I kind of liked having a Pokedex rival and I somewhat enjoyed Shauna's role as a Bianca-esque character, Tierno was the one that was really just... there. His whole dancing thing felt incredibly tacked on too, considering it was basically just used as some filler dialogue. I don't think that the whole group of friends vibe would really have suffered if he wasn't there.

I'll admit that Serena got better over time though. She was pretty bland throughout, but after she actually started battling you I grew to like her a little more. I'm really happy that she at least had a diverse team too (and this goes for the other three as well) because Hugh and Cheren had pretty awful teams.

One thing about the Looker missions, when you meet Malva of the E4 in the hotel, she mentions Team Flare's plan and she even knows the password to the hidden floor of Lysandre Labs. What is her connection to Team Flare? Did she used to be a member? Beacause you never see her in the main story outside of the League. Then, if you go to the League after you complete the Looker quest before battling you she says she has a "burning hatred" for you. This all confuses me. Can anybody shed some light on Malva and Team Flare?